Marketing ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marketing ethics - Essay Example A recent McDonald's TV ad campaign entitled "Feed your inner child" is taken as an example of the ethical dimensions of marketing along the lines of the conflict between "profit" and "nutrition". It is clear that both elements should be in balance in order for McDonald's to be able to keep doing business at the same time that the consumers -children and adults- are served healthy food instead of junk food. This is a very conflictive topic, and it is a complex issue when it comes to finding an adequate solution for all parties involved. (Business Ethics, 2006). In a research study conducted by Kristen Harrison and Amy Marske (2005) for the American Journal of Public Health entitled "Nutritional Content of Foods Advertised During the Television Programs Children Watch Most" and published online by MyDNA under the title of "TV Ads Market Junk Food to Kids", the researchers found that "kids' consumption of TV ads that tout poor food choices is especially troubling because childhood obesity is on the rise, TV advertising influences children's food purchases and purchase requests, and kids see so many TV food ads a day." (Harrison and Marske, 2005). The researchers suggested that "parental involvement is the most important factor in the determination of the family diet. () Parents can work to maintain the integrity of the family pantry not only through selective shopping, but also through efforts to instruct their children about food and nutrition." (Harrison and Marske, 2005). Harrison stated that other adults should cooperate with parents in order to address the health problem of childhood obesity. In her opinion the food industry and advertisers "bear some responsibility for peddling nutritionally inadequate foods so aggressively to kids." (Harrison and Marske, 2005). The overall findings of this research study establish a significant degree of causation between childhood obesity and high levels of fast food advertising. In the article entitled "Advertising: Self Defence Tips for Parents and Young People!", Red Branch Human Performance (2006) makes the next assertion about advertisers that don't lie, but at the same time they don't tell the whole truth. Let's see: "Advertisers often don't give you the full story about their product. For example, if a manufacturer claims that their product is "virtually fat free" they usually don't mention it when the product is very high in sugar. If a product is touted as "90% fat free", it is still 10% fat...which is high enough." (Red Branch, 2006). This is a very common marketing tactics used in a wide variety of products with negative features that marketers don't want to reveal to the consumers. McSpotlight (1999) is a consumers organisation from the United Kingdom whose objective is to stop McDonald's marketing aimed at children. They hold a permanent campaign encouraging consumers to send their complains to the Independent Television Commission (ITC) based in London. McSpotlight makes a strong emphasis on the ITC Code, especially Appendix 1, Rule 5 that states the following: "Advertisements must not exhort children to purchase or to ask their parents or others to make enquiries or purchases." (McSpotlight, 1999). Along this line of thought, McSpotlight